Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of December 2023
Case name: 2023_12_28-ATL083
Situation: The fate of 58 travellers on a boat that started from Boujdour to Spain is still unknown.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case: In the evening of the 28th of December, a relative informed Alarm Phone about a boat with 58 travellers, among them 17 women and two children, that left from Boujdour earlier that day. The relative had lost contact to them in the afternoon. The shift team could not reach the travellers but relayed all the information, including the last known position, to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo. During the next hours, the shift team continued to contact the travellers and tried to get information from different Spanish authorities about a possible rescue. On the 29th of December, an officer of Salvamento Maritimo stated that a boat with 58 travellers had been intercepted by the Moroccadn rescue authorities, but as there are also information about a boat with 58 travellers that had capcized, it is not clear if this information is correct. After a call to the Moroccan rescue authorities, it seemed even less likely that the boat was returned by them. Over the next few days, information circulated about a number of boats, some of them capsized, others that were intercepted by the Moroccan authorities, but the fate of the 58 travellers in this case remained unclear. To this day, it it unknown what happened to the 58 travellers and whether they made it ashore alive.